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Gender identity studies has unsurprisingly become a booming enterprise in academia, which in the modern world is home to some of the most inane ideas in human history. To justify the existence of these departments, academics focused on sexual orientation and gender have found it useful to stir up a little controversy here and there. The most recent such provocation is the notion that the semi-mythical warlord/king Arthur, a central figure of the founding of Britain, the epitome of knightly valor and prowess, and arguably the most legendary hero in all of Western literature, may have been LGBTQ, according to a Welsh county council.

The UK Telegraph reports that the county council of Denbighshire in the northeast of Wales has created educational resources which include a timeline of LGBTQ+ history telling “stories of sexual orientation and gender identity.” It was devised, the Telegraph notes, so that “local people, allies and events can be celebrated” instead of material “replicating mainstream narratives and celebrities.”

How very exciting. In any case, the legendary Arthur has been included on that timeline because according to a Welsh legend, as an entry on the timeline states, “On a subsequent occasion Arthur dressed himself in woman’s clothes in order to visit a girl at Rhuthun.” Rhuthun (modern-day Ruthin) in Denbighshire was said in the tale to be the site where Arthur slayed a rival named Hueil mab Caw. In this tale, Hueil sees Arthur disguising himself in women’s attire to sneak into a dance in order to get closer to a girl in whom he was interested (this was pre-Guinevere, apparently).

That’s it. That’s the sole instance in all Arthurian lore for justifying lumping Arthur in with LGBTQ history.

The Telegraph states that the basis for the timeline is the work of LGBT-focused historian Norena Shopland, described by Wales Online as “the woman who has dedicated her life to uncovering Wales’ LGBTQ+ history.” The timeline emerged from a 2021 training in “LGBTQ+ Language and History” for local museums and libraries to “encourage the celebration of local stories of sexual orientation and gender identity,” as the council states.

In 2023 the Welsh government launched the LGBT Action Plan for Wales, which declared, “Welsh LGBTQ+ history, culture, and heritage in Wales has contributed to our legacy and experiences as a nation and these stories need to be told.” Even if they need to be fabricated, apparently.

As an amateur medievalist (in the original sense of the word amateur – someone engaged in a pursuit for the sheer love of it) with a ridiculously extensive library related to King Arthur, British legends and lore, and chivalric literature, I feel confident in stating that this cultural appropriation of Arthur by activists desperate to subvert “heteronormativity” is complete and utter bollocks.

I have never read anything which suggests that King Arthur was homosexual, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit or any other non-binary identity, nor that he was a closeted cross-dresser. Indeed, the legend referred to in the Welsh timeline itself makes it clear that Arthur wore women’s clothing on a single occasion as a disguise in order to get close to a woman he was interested in. Sounds a little desperate on Arthur’s part, but I’ve done more embarrassing things to get close to a girl I was interested in. The point is that it is clear from the context that he is heterosexual. This brief episode can only be interpreted as a “story of sexual orientation and gender identity” if you are determined to make a link between the legendary hero and your own obsession with transgressive sexual behavior.

Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at human rights charity Sex Matters, nailed it when she said, “We’ve reached a new level of desperation when a legend about King Arthur dressing in women’s clothes qualifies for entry on a local government’s “LGBTQ history timeline.

She continued (and I can’t put it any better than this),

Whether it’s Joan of Arc or King Arthur, it makes no sense to apply today’s baffling ideologies to historical or legendary figures who wore clothes typical of the opposite sex for whatever reason. British councils have no business trying to rewrite or reframe history to validate very recent ideas about sex and gender. To claim that a person in “opposite sex” clothes is part of the LGBTQ is confusing nonsense.

Well said, and this applies to all other historical figures whose legacies are being similarly targeted by gender ideologues in order to deconstruct the heterosexual norm and subvert the West’s heroes.

To cite one other example (apart from the aforementioned Joan of Arc, who is often claimed by the LGBTQ community): American icon Abraham Lincoln is the subject of a documentary that recently hit theaters titled Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln, alleging that the Great Emancipator’s close friendships with men prove he was gay. This is a theory that has long titillated gender ideologues who cannot fathom that straight men are capable of bonding closely without being sexually attracted to each other.

Of course, there is more to this than the LGBTQ community trying to appropriate straight icons. This is all part of the queering of the West. “Queer” doesn’t mean simply “homosexual.” As Logan Lancing and James Lindsey explain in their book The Queering Of The American Child, queer theory is a radical ideology that seeks to convince people that nothing – nothing – is normal or natural, that everything including gender and sexuality is a social or political construct imposed upon people by the “dominant” classes. Queer theory’s purpose is not to simply normalize deviant sexual practices and identities but to deconstruct the very concept of normalcy. The goal is to make people conscious of the prison society has locked us all into and to inspire us to break out of its repressive conventions and to free our authentic selves. As Lancing and Lindsey put it, queer theory is a vehicle for a complete and perpetual cultural and personal revolution.

That’s what propaganda like the inclusion of King Arthur in an LGBTQ exhibit and a documentary about a gay Lincoln is really all about: waging revolution against all of our cultural values and traditions, our understanding of the natural order and our own humanity, the role of sexuality in our lives, our religious faith and the nuclear family — Western civilization in its entirety.

Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior